Facebook Allows Pseudonyms

Facebook now gives prominent public figures the option to verify their accounts and use pseudonyms instead of real names.

The entire process will be done manually by Facebook, who will make sure that the important persons (celebrities, politicians and so on) are the real ones and not impostors. Those who choose to opt in for a verified account will also “gain more prominent placement in Facebook’s “People To Subscribe To” suggestions.

For Facebook, this new feature is a necessity. Recently, there have been many incidents of impostors creating fake accounts.

As you see in the picture below, users that have a lot of subscribers will be prompted to take action and verify their account. This request will be sent randomly by Facebook, but only to the users that have a lot of subscribers, so not everyone will see this. Perhaps, though, in the future it could become a standard option.

Facebook will manually approve all alternative names to make sure that they are real and not taken from another person.

This new feature also raises some privacy questions. It is well-known that in the past Facebook and other companies had problems with their privacy policies. For example, just recently a tech reporter revealed that although he deleted some of his Facebook photos more than a year ago, those pictures are still stored on Facebook servers.

To be verified, Facebook requires that you upload an official document such as a passport, driver’s license, work/military ID or school ID, library card, credit card, birth certificate, or social security card.